When you need me
by Storylady35
Summary: One shot - Semi-epilogue to '"Bound to the night, the freedom is mine to give."'. Wounded by his brother, Lord Sesshomaru tries to regain his strength from the battle with his brother when a human girl finds him in the forest. She's fearless and for some reason, tries to help him. Just like someone else he knew… a very long time ago.


Hey _**YOU**_ there! Yeah, you! Before you read this, you might want to read '_**"Bound to the night, the freedom is mine to give."**_'. It will make things a bit more sense. But if you can't be bothered… here's the basics. 

- Before anything in the anime or manga, Sesshomaru met a human who fought by his side to defeat a demon they were both after. 

- As they travelled together they became friends but the girl was wounded and died. With her last breath she promised to return to his side someday. 

- This story is told over those few brief moments when Sesshomaru met Rin for the first time, when he was wounded from the Windscar. 

- You can work the rest out for yourself. Enjoy and review!

_How? How could that pathetic half breed… that… aggressive… disgrace… that clumsy, inelegant, bumbling, ill-mannered, crude…. How could he defeat me?_ The pain from his shoulder was numbing but his arm was gone… cut off by the very sword he had hunted for so long.

_And now he had control of the windscar. That pathetic half breed will die for what he has done. I will take what is rightfully mine. I __**will**__ have the __Tessaiga. _

He growled inside his mind, trapped between beast and demon, unable to break free and regain his composure. He felt as if he was fighting himself for control of his body.

Then, with a small change in the wind, his mind cleared and his vision returned. He lay for a moment and thought. Something had brought his beast under control.

Something he remembered.

He heard the bushes move slightly at the side and the memory grew stronger. Something under his kimono burnt his skin with a sudden heat. It had been still for over two hundred years… and now it was active again.

As a small human figure peeped around the trees, he sat up and snarled at it, eyes glowing red as the beast took over again.

_A child? A simple child?_

The child flinched back towards the trees and for a moment the demon thought she would scream and run.

But she didn't.

She gulped and steadied herself. Her eyebrows frowned in her determination and fearless nature.

The demon stared at her. The beast called for her blood but her face… her face was so… so familiar.

_Her scent… her face… her fearlessness… it can't be._

She walked slowly towards him but the fear never entered her eyes.

As if to confirm his suspicions, the warmth on his cold skin grew. He sat, pushed up by his only arm and stared at her.

_She looks just like her. But she's so young._

The child stood and stared at him until his strength weakened and he leant back on the tree. Her eyes were trapped on his wounded arm. With a nod, she turned and went back into the trees.

The demon closed his eyes and tried to rest but an old memory stirred his mind.

She smiled at him and stood by his side, ready to fight. Her cold eyes so full of life and so fearless. And the glow in her eyes… as she passed away from him.

Such an old memory but so fresh.

As the moon shone high above, the demon stared at the bamboo water container. The girl had returned and left it before vanishing again. _What is she trying to do? Make me drink it? _He huffed softly. _Maybe it_ _is her. She's still trying to look after me. _

He twitched as his ears picked up movement again and the same human scent. _She's back again?_

She appeared from a tree and placed a large leaf with a cooked fish and some wild mushrooms next to the water then she stood and turned to leave.

"Mind your own business _girl_. Your generosity is wasted I don't eat human food."

The girl stopped and looked back at him. He couldn't look at her. _Call her by name. Use her name. I know it's her. It has to be. Who else would help me?_

But her name was just out of reach. It wasn't the woman of his memories, the one who helped and protected him. This was just a simple child.

She stood for a moment longer then turned away.

He looked up at her ragged old kimono.

_No… this isn't her._

As the sun rose, the sun warmed his face. _The girl's returning_. He thought as her smell came closer. His eyes opened to the sky but the memory didn't fade.

She held another leaf in her arms. _More food? How stupid is this child? _He sighed inside his mind. _**She**__ would know I don't eat._

As she came closer, he kept his eyes to the sky. "No thanks."

She ran over to him and held out the leaf as if it was an offering.

"I told you, I don't need anything from you."

She sank back, clearly disappointed.

Her face was covered in bruises and her left eye was closed from pain.

He huffed inside his mind. _She'd been attacked?_

As she sat next to him, he thought back to _her_. **She** was as resilient as him. **She** never let anything happen to her. **She** wouldn't let herself get beaten up. So this _child _isn't **her**.

"Where did you get those bruises?"

She looked up suddenly with a strange twist of features.

He tried not to swallow. It was the same look as _she_ gave him… when he asked how she healed so quickly. The look of surprise, sadness and happiness. But on a child it looked different. Almost glad.

The look was disturbing. It was too familiar. Too much like her. He twisted his head away, taking her from his view. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

_**She**__ never said anything she didn't want to. Her secrets were as guarded as my own. But… _He turned his head to look at the human child. _She looks just like her. She's fearless of me and determined to help me. That's what she said… _

_**I have never been afraid of you. So… just look for the girl… who isn't scared. That will be me. The one who… isn't… scared.**_

_Where? Where will I find you?_

_**When… you need me… Lord… Sesshomaru.**_

His eyes focused on the girl. She laughed and smiled at him.

His heart rocketed at the simple gesture. _It __**is**__ her! It… it is Rin! _His mind ran away from him with the possibility of her returning. He spoke before he thought. "What are you smiling about? I simply asked a question. I don't care… I'm just curious."

But the way she just sat there, smiling at him, his mind saw the same look on a face much older a long time ago.

She had returned to him. As she swore with her final breath. He blinked. _Is this… when I need her?_

_That girl is Rin's reincarnation. The Rin I travelled with to defeat Akuma. The one who died in my arms. The only human I could ever call friend. _He sighed out loud at the thought. _Why has she returned as a child?_

_**Maybe then you will be the one to protect me.**_

_What a joke. _He held his face suddenly, remembering her final touch but with it came the smell of her blood… her last moments… the peace in her eyes…

_I can't go through that again. When she died… I swore she would have a normal life beyond this world. That means as far from me as she can get. _

"…he was testing… he was teasing… he was testing… HE WAS TESTING!"

He watched as the small imp stood up and began to rant and called him an ungrateful dog. _How irritating. _He bent down and picked up a handful of rocks and threw one at the back of his head. The imp went flying forward to the ground as the large two headed dragon sat up and looked at him.

The imp climbed to one of the heads so they were nearly eye level. "Lord Sesshomaru! Before I continue in your service, were you actually testing your sword on me?"

He looked at the imp for a moment. _I gave Jaken the staff of two heads… the staff that belonged to her… _"I expected a relieved welcome from you Jaken, not an interrogation."

The imp suddenly became nervous. _As he should be. Even __**he**__ is scared of me. _"Right… I'm glad you're well. I thought you might be dead."

The second rock landed right on his forehead and threw him off the dragon. _How irritating…. If he wasn't the one to use the staff… after all, Rin said it worked with demons of low intelligence._

The wind picked up suddenly and drifted a smell in the wind. _Blood… blood and the smell of wolves._

"I recognise this blood." _It's_ _so new… and yet so old. _He blinked at the memory. _Rin. _He set off to follow it. _The smell was so strong, she must be bleeding really badly_.

Part of him was telling him to stop, to leave her, to let her live but… the other half… the half burning into the moon pendant… _I have to follow it. If she is Rin… I just want to be sure. _

The scent took him into the forest to a path. The sight before him stopped him in his tracks. The child, on her front but her head turned to the side, looking at him, her one good eye still open.

_Not again. _

Jaken appeared at his side with the staff she hated so much in his hands. "What is _that_?" He walked over with the staff over his shoulder. "Phew… she's an gonna, that's for sure. She must have been attacked by wolves." He looked back at the dog demon. "Look at the teeth markings. Do you recognise this pathetic human?"

_Do I… why ask such a question Jaken? As if to question my memory? Do I recognise her as the child desperate to help me? Or the reincarnation of the one I trusted… the one I called friend. _He looked at the body and saw a memory of her smile and laugh. Then it twisted slightly to the same smile and laugh on an older woman. _The same person… the same face… _

He looked at the dead body.

_She died alone… _

The trees around him… they were so familiar.

_She was trying to get to me… she was heading to where I was. If I had stayed… I would have heard her… I could have helped… I could… have __**protected**__ her. But now she is dead. Again. _

He stared for a while then lifted his hand to the sword at his side.

_Could I? Could I bring her back? I couldn't when I was young or I would have returned Akuma. They were bound together. But she isn't. This child is free of the curse. So… Tenseiga…_

He drew it quickly, thinking over the actions. Jaken reacted with shock but he didn't listen.

_If I can, I will. As thanks for her past life. But that is all._

The sword pulsed and glowed with a soft white aura. _Agreement? _He mused. "Interesting. I can see them. They are from the underworld." His eyes narrowed. _The last time I saw them… was as she died… _"I will do another test… I will use the Tenseiga."

Jaken was talking behind him. But his mind was lost. _Should I? Should I really cut these beasts down? It would return her life but… what then? Would I let this child take the place of the Rin I knew before? A child by my side would only get in the way. _

"Oh Lord Sesshomaru. You are still such an idiot."

_That voice… speaking from the never world_? _Rin?_

"Of course Sesshomaru. Don't you remember? You were the one who wanted me to live so much. You were the one who wanted me to have a life where I didn't have to fight. I've had a hundred lives like that since the time we parted. I have lived happy long lives so many times over… I now know what a normal life is like. But you have never needed me before so our paths never crossed."

_But why now?_

She giggled, as if behind him, her back pressed against his. "Ah, that's my **secret**. You will have to work that out for yourself. But you will never know unless you take the risk." She laughed and he almost felt her elbow in his back. "Oh, and your little imp looks perfect with the staff."

_Rin…_

"Trust me. Lord Sesshomaru."

As her voice faded from his ear, he made his choice. He lifted his father's sword and swung once at the creatures as they hovered over the body. In one strike they were slayed.

He sheaved the sword quickly and looked down at the child. _Did it work? _

With the other world closed around him, he knelt and lifted the child. _Rin? _She was so light… even with one hand he could lift her whole body. She didn't move.

_It didn't work… I didn't bring her back._

As he stared at her, the silver crescent moon around his neck felt warm and he knew it was glowing beneath his clothes.

He thought back quickly. _What were those words?_ _Bound to the night… life is mine to give. _

He gasped uncontrollable as he heard her heart and breathe return. The pendant grew still and cold but the child opened her eyes. She looked right up at him and he felt a suppressed smile. Rin… _his_ Rin… shone in her eyes.

"She came back to life!" Jaken gasped in shock as the child stood up alone. "Lord Sesshomaru, you resurrected that human girl with the power of the Tenseiga?"

_She… she came back to me. _Sesshomaru stared at her as she stared at him. _No… it wasn't just me…_ _Rin… brought her back as well. She wants to be by my side again. Even if as a child. _He stood and walked away quickly. _Rin's life has returned. It's her choice now. _

He walked and listened as Jaken sobbed… but the child followed him as well.

_Hef, Tenseiga, you compelled me to save a human life today. _He stood still and listened as the girl walked behind him. _But_ _I wanted to save her… and you allowed me to. _His hand touched his neck where the crescent moon hung, pressed hard against his skin where it was safe. _After all this time…_ _Rin finally kept her word. But why now? Why do I need her now?_

He looked back at her as she walked, staring at him. "Rin?"

The girl blinked and nodded once.

He blinked back at her. "Rin." _Is that her name? It's the same name?_

She stared at him and blinked. "Yes Lord Sesshomaru?"

He stared a while longer, biting his tongue not to speak or smile. Then he turned back and continued onward. _Rin… this time… you won't leave me._

**The end**

**Author's note; *Grin***

3


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